"...not as vocabulary, not as syntax, not even as structure, but as a principle and a presence." -John Berger

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Sunday, April 30, 2006

Anna Świrszczyńska : poem

I’ve Been Waiting These Thirty Years

That young beanpole was maybe six feet tall, that light-hearted worker from Powiśle who fought in the hell of Zielna Street, in the telephone building. When I changed the bandage on his leg that was torn openhe winced, he laughed.

‘When the war’s over we’ll go dancing, miss.It’s on me’.

I’ve been waiting for him these thirty years. Translated from the Polish by Magnus Jan Keynski and Robert A. Maguire